


Korë

by TheHarleyQueen



Series: Korë-verse [1]
Category: Descendants (Disney Movies)
Genre: (An overuse of parentheses), A Conscious Overuse of Italics, Ben Knows More Than He Lets On (Disney: Descendants), Darker Than Disney, Demigod Mal (Disney), Evie & Jay & Mal & Carlos de Vil as Found Family, Fae Mal (Disney), Isle of the Lost (Disney) is a Terrible Place, Jay And Evie Get Full Names, Multi, United States of Auradon (Disney) Is Not Perfect
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-05
Updated: 2019-12-25
Packaged: 2020-08-09 21:09:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 13,951
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20123875
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheHarleyQueen/pseuds/TheHarleyQueen
Summary: Malher mother’s voice says as she breathes in and closes her eyes.Faeshe reminds herself.You are fae. Your word is truth. Your Promises are always fulfilled.Korëher father’s name for her echoes through her mind as she exhales.You are half goddess. Don’t forget. Never let anyone hold something over you.She opens her eyes.“Every child currently on the Isle of the Lost will be given a chance to come to Auradon if it pleases them,” she swears. Uma’s eyes narrow and she completes her vow, “I Promise.”She feels the weight of the Promise settle on her. Underneath her tongue, in her bones and her teeth. It thrums in her blood. She will keep this Promise, or she will die.She has come too far to die.





	1. all of my enemies started out friends

**Author's Note:**

> A Descendants fic that I plan to be a rewrite of pre-first movie, follow the plot of the second movie, change some points of the second, and keep only the barest minimum of the third. Let me know if you enjoy it. :)

* * *

_ Mal, _ her mother’s voice says as she breathes in and closes her eyes. _ Fey,_ she reminds herself. _ You are fey. Your word is truth. Your Promises are always fulfilled. _

_ Korë, _ her father’s name for her echoes through her mind as she exhales. _ You are half-goddess_. _ Don’t forget_. _ Never let anyone hold something over you_.

She opens her eyes. 

“Every child currently on the Isle of the Lost will be given a chance to come to Auradon if it pleases them,” she swears. Uma’s eyes narrow and she completes her vow, “I Promise.”

_ She feels the weight of the Promise settle on her. Underneath her tongue, in her bones and her teeth. It thrums in her blood. She will keep this Promise, or she will die. _

_ She has come too far to die. _

* * *

From the moment she was born, Mal’s mother made sure she knew that she was _fey_. She was a fairy, and that meant things. It meant keeping the power balance in her own favor- if someone did something _nice _for you, you repaid them instantly so they couldn’t ask for more from you. Hold their Promises close to your heart, take them at their word even when they don’t mean it. _ Don’t promise them anything_, Maleficent would remind her every night. _ Never owe anyone anything, Mal, because that’s no way for a fairy to live_.

She also liked to snap at Mal- _ don’t give handouts_. _ We’re not Seelie. We don’t do favors for friends. We’re fey, and we have pride. _

Of course, it wasn’t that simple. Mal isn't just fey, can't be. Because her magic worked on the Isle. She could cast and conjure and curse people to her heart's content. But she didn’t say anything, never asked, because her mother would _never _tell her the name of the man she’d allowed into her bed.

Mal doesn’t really mean to start helping the kids of the Isle of the Lost. 

It starts with Carlos de Vil, six years old and on the verge of death (he cannot _die _ on the Isle of the Lost, but as long as he doesn’t get food, he will not get better, so instead she lets her magic- _ magic that she shouldn’t have- _ find him and heal him). 

She does his chores too, without even having to lift a finger or say a word (_she comes back the next night, fully intending to only check up on him. Instead, she does his chores again, as he is asleep and whimpering {she tells herself it’s because she can’t stand the pathetic whispering noise, but she’s lying to herself}_).

She starts helping Uma, Ursula’s daughter, next. It’s still not something that she’s doing on purpose (_her mom thinks that she’s out all night committing crimes. She refuses to disavow her of this belief _ ). But she hears a wet _smack _on her way back from the hideout she’s started creating near the docks, and she can’t help herself. 

Uma has a throbbing welt on her cheek, and she’s mopping the floor of the fish and chips shop. It’s not hard for Mal to put two and two together (_she’s lazy, and doesn’t bother waiting for Uma to fall asleep to start casting. She stays out of sight, though {Uma must be well-read by Isle standards, because the next night, she leaves out milk and honey. The milk isn’t spoiled, and the honey is sweet, if raw. Mal wonders how she got it and doesn’t ask_).

She creates a collection of VKs that she secretly helps. She leaves trinkets for Jay so that he always has something to give to his father (_he leaves her liquor, which she drinks even though she shouldn’t_). She does Harry and Uma’s chores, and they leave her milk and honey. She helps Carlos, and he leaves her nothing (_he’s her favourite, for this, because she doesn’t want to acknowledge what she’s doing, that she's acting Seelie_). She does Evie’s sewing for her mother so that Evie can focus on her own pieces (_Evie leaves her acorn shells filled with brown sugar. It’s a witch’s gift, and Mal smirks and says nothing_).

She helps them and pretends she doesn’t, but when she’s around them, her magic echoes one word. _ Mine_, it says. _ Mine, _tattoos her heart. _ Mine_.

It goes on for years. She wonders how she pulls it off every night, slipping out and fixing problems. She wonders how her mother doesn’t catch word of it. She’s scared that one day, she will. Mal tries to not think about that day, and what she’ll do when it comes. Although she helps her VKs, they owe her nothing. She keeps it that way. She’s doing favors, but she’s not like Celia, who holds the favors over people’s heads. She doesn’t want payment.

A year into her scheme, she realizes that it might be helpful to have her VKs officially on her side. She doesn’t call in any debts (_they don’t owe any_). Instead, she starts courting each of them, slowly. She starts with Carlos, who is desperate for any sort of protection- from his mother, from the others on the Isle. She gets Jay with wild exploits and adventure and theft. She pulls Uma in by regularly tipping at the fish and chips shop (_with other people’s money, but still_). Harry and Gil follow Uma like it’s the most natural thing in the world for them.

She gets Evie with sweet words and a promise from her mother to lift the banishment (_Evie does owe her for that, but Mal doesn’t tell her_).

It works, for a while. Two other gangs form across the Isle- the Huns, Harriet and the rest of the pirates- but her people are stronger, better, faster than everyone else. _ Mal doesn’t tell them about the magic running in her blood like a wildfire. She’s recruited them, but she doesn’t trust them, Not yet_. 

Uma leaves her several coins. She doesn’t know what sparks the change (_Uma’s mother found out she was wasting the milk and honey and hid them_). They’re probably worth less than the milk and honey, but Mal refuses to help her after that. She’s not a servant, she doesn’t want payment. She doesn’t want to be _owned _ (_those coins are the reason she kicks Uma out of the gang. She can’t look at the girl without feeling like she serves her, now. Harry goes with Uma, and Mal says _**_good riddance_ **_even as Carlos and Evie look at her reproachfully_).

* * *

Mal is twelve when she meets her dad for the first time. It explains a _ lot _of things. Why they’d never met. Why she could do magic on the Isle when no one else she knew could, not even her mother, who was the _ Mistress of All Evil_.

She had been at Coward’s Market, walking aimlessly. Thinking, she liked to say when people were stupid enough to ask (before staring them down with luminous green eyes). Really, she was _feeling_. Letting the tendrils of her magic swirl out across the market, picking up emotion, secrets, power. People cleared out of her way as she walked, which was how she managed to quite literally bump into her father (not that she’d known it then).

Hades swung around to glare down at her, hair flickering into fire and eyes pitch black. Mal had stared up with wide eyes and had braced herself for the first hit. The villains were temperamental, every child on the Isle knew that, and Hades had a _ reputation _amongst the villains. No one on the Isle could die, but she’d heard stories of people left for worse-than-dead (she’d been told those stories, as something akin to bedtime stories, by her mother- on the Isle, age was no measure of what someone could handle). The blows never came- nothing, not even a smack across the cheek. The god bent over, to stare into her eyes, and went as far as to push her chin up so that he could see better before saying, quite loudly, “What the _ fuck _has that woman done to you?”

Mal had bit the inside of her cheek and said nothing. If she’d learned anything in her short, ugly life, it was that talking ill of Maleficent lead nowhere. But Hades had grabbed her wrist and pulled her back to Maleficent’s palace, holding tightly enough that there would be bruises for a week.

The god burst through the door and Mal finally managed to pull her wrist from him. She rubbed it and glanced around for her mother.

“Maleficent!” He roared, voice shaking the foundations of the crumbling house that Maleficent insisted was a palace, “Maleficent! What the fuck have you done to my daughter!?”

Mal let the words wash over her, closing her eyes to hear the words thrumming in her veins. _ My daughter. My daughter. My daughter. _

It was how she missed her mother as she sauntered down the stairs, laughing softly {_not the wild cackle that sent cowards running for the hills. The soft, sinister laugh that chilled Mal to the bone_}. 

“I made her fey,” Maleficent said, and Mal could remember every time her mother had said it. _ I’m making you fey_. _ Be grateful_. _ If it weren’t for me, you’d be human. You _**_owe_ **_me. _ She opened her eyes to see her mother smirking, to see Hades (_her father _) glowing with the effort of keeping his power contained.

“You made her _ you_,” Hades growled, stepping forward, closing the gap between them.

“Mal isn’t me, unfortunately. It’s a shame, but that’s what I get for reproducing the _ human _ way.”

“Mal?” Hades scoffed, lip curling, “That’s not even a real name, Maleficent. And it’s not _ her _ name. We agreed on her name.”

“You decided,” Maleficent shot back, “But I was never going to name my daughter after _ your wife_.”

“If I’d known you just wanted to remake yourself in our daughter, I’d have told you to go fuck yourself when you came to me.”

_ Our daughter_. 

“Well, I guess you made the wrong choice when you fucked me instead,” her mother had snapped. Hades’ eyes had glowed, and Mal had been certain that her mother was about to die.

But instead, her father had rolled his eyes and stepped back (_not a victory for Maleficent, but mercy from Hades_). His eyes landed on her, and she’d felt his power ( _ that felt like iron against her skin _ ) settle around her. She’d looked up at him through blue hair and black eyes and magic that was like hers but _harsher_, and he had knelt to her height and looked her in the eyes.

“Your name is Korë,” he told her.

“You are my blood. The daughter of Hades. I expect you not to _ waste _ the gift I’ve given you.”

He turned to leave, and she was perfectly happy to let him, but- “How do I do that?”

He grinned _wickedly _at her.

“By doing _ whatever the hell you want_.”

* * *

Mal (_Korë_) takes her father's message to heart. She lets herself run wild in the street of the Isle. She burns down buildings and _ruins _people. She runs with Evie, Carlos, and Jay in the day, and does chores for them at night (_she doesn’t tell anyone, but now, she refuses to be shamed by it_). 

In private, her hair is blue and her eyes and wings are black, but no one with any sense of self-preservation says anything (_she learns to cast glamours like it’s breathing, and switches between purple and blue like it’s what she was born to do_). 

Mal lives vicariously on the Isle, she does stupid shit and knows that she’ll be bailed out by her mother’s name (_and her father’s, if necessary_). She makes alliances (_Dizzy, Celia, CJ_) and she runs the Isle’s teenage underground.

She kisses Carlos first, at midnight (_the year they’ll be sent to Auradon, even though they don’t know that_). She kisses Evie within the same minute and Jay after that. 

They make sense, the four of them. They run together anyway, and they spend most of their nights together, curled up in their hideout (_it’s a miracle they haven’t figured out where she slips away to yet- or maybe they have, and are granting her mercy by pretending they haven’t_)(_it’s the second one_). They love the same way they fight- wild and magical and angry (_at the world, at their parents, at Auradon_). They do _whatever the hell they want_, and they’re beautiful while doing it.

_ They promise each other that it won’t change when they go to Auradon. Mal spells Ben and then falls in love with him (she thinks). Evie finds someone for whom she can be _ ** _Princess Charming_**_. Jay finds a new family in like-minded people. Carlos finds solace in animals and being away from his mother. And in all of this, they hold tightly onto each other, as if the other three are the only reason they still exist._


	2. i see right through me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Princeling starts an “initiative” that’s supposed to bring all of the kids from the Isle of the Lost over to live in Auradon. She assumes he’ll start with the babies, the kids who need it the most, who are the worst off while they’re trapped with their psychotic parents.
> 
> Instead, he “randomly selects” her, Evie, Carlos and Jay, and Mal riots. The Isle is in her blood- for all means and purposes, it’s her birthright, and he’s ripping her away (and, by extension, the one thing that protecting Isle kids, and stopping all-out warfare from breaking out amongst the citizens of the Isle {she’s got a mole, somewhere, and she calls all of her people together and threatens to burn the Isle down if they aren’t found}.

The Princeling starts an “initiative” that’s supposed to bring all of the kids from the Isle of the Lost over to live in Auradon. She assumes he’ll start with the babies, the kids who need it the most, who are the worst off while they’re trapped with their psychotic parents.

Instead, he “randomly selects” her, Evie, Carlos and Jay, and Mal _riots_. The Isle is in her blood- for all intents and purposes, it’s her birthright, and he’s ripping her away (and, by extension, the _ one thing _ that protecting Isle kids, and stopping all-out warfare from breaking out amongst the citizens of the Isle {_she’s got a mole, somewhere, and she calls all of her people together and threatens to _ ** _ burn the Isle down_ ** _ if they aren’t found_}.

She spends the rest of the _single day _she has before being shipped off to Auradon securing her magic. She binds it to every object of magical value, regardless of the fact that they’re all worthless right now. She weaves a net across the Isle and attunes herself to it so finely that she knows when someone steps outside their home (she doesn’t know if the magic will hold when she’s in Auradon, because it’s part-fey {_l__ike her_}, but she does it anyway, because the Isle is hers, and these people are hers, even if they don’t know it) (even Uma, who fights with her on every available occasion and pushes her to the point that Mal would be well-justified to _raze her to the ground_, is hers).

Leaving the Isle is the hardest thing she’s ever had to do. Her magic screams at her to stay in her place with _her _people {_it’s harder than when she had looked at Uma and told her to leave, because then her magic had screamed ‘stay’, too, but her pride had said ‘go’_}. 

Before she leaves, her mother looks her in her eyes and says, “_Promise me _ you’ll steal the wand.” 

She doesn’t have a choice.

They make it to Auardon, and between the sun beaming down like it’s out to get them and the people whose smiles are stretched so wide it’s almost grotesque, Mal _loathes _it. It’s all she’s never wanted.

They’re in a land where magic is real and available, and yet she feels nothing. There are sparks when she’s in the vicinity of Hesperos (who is a _ god _), but mostly, she walks around with the desert-dryness clinging to her skin and feeling like absolute shit. People thank her for coming to Auradon (for nothing at all) and she grins through the weight of Promises that people don’t know they’re making. 

They try to steal the wand that night. It’s reckless because they’re going in with no plan, no background knowledge at all (_it feels like years ago, before they’d developed a network of Isle kids who told them everything they could possibly need to know_), but they just want to be _ gone _ from this place where it feels like magic _ should _ be, but isn’t (_at least on the Isle, the only magic was Mal’s and her father’s. Mal didn’t expect any other magic to exist, there_).

They fail, and Mal expects them to be sent back without even a trial (_like their parents_). But the museum must have the _ worst _ security in the world, because even though she waited up all night for the Auradonian Guard Force to come to break down the door to their dorm, it never comes (she lies on Evie’s bed, holding her girlfriend tight- it might be the last night that she gets to)(she plans to say she coerced the others. _ They _can’t go back empty-handed, because Maleficent will kill them. Hades will keep her mother at bay for her, though. She thinks).

They end up in ‘Goodness 101’ the next day, staring blankly at the Fairy Godmother as she tries to drill them on the ‘good’ option (_Mal sketches the wand and thinks about how morality isn’t objective, how all of Auradon society is based on a logical fallacy_). She parrots the answers the headmistress expects of her and ignores the consequences that would come with following through on these actions. _ Whatever the hell you want_, her father had said, and sitting in ‘Goodness 101’ is not it.

She sends Evie off to Science with a smile and encouragement to keep her intelligence under wraps (Evie is _brilliant, _but underestimation is a handy tool and people like Evie-the-Ditz more than Evie-the-Genius because Evie-the-Ditz isn’t a threat). She sends Jay and Carlos off to Tourney, with similar instructions- Carlos should look weak and intelligent, Jay should look strong and stupid. It’s their tried-and-true method, and no one on the Isle really buys it anymore, but she’d bet her life that the people of Auradon will.

She corners the Fairy Godmother’s daughter in the bathroom- and picks her apart before she even makes a move. Her name is Jane- plain Jane, Mal would bet. She thinks she’s ugly because she doesn’t know how to dress for herself. She wants to be like Audrey, looks up to the other princess _ (so far, every time that Mal has bumped into Audrey, she’s thought the girl weak of spirit, and so far, she hasn’t been proved wrong)_. It’s so easy for Mal to hurt the girl- hell, she hardly has to try. She places a basic glamour over Jane, similar to the one she holds in place over her own looks, and Jane thanks her _profusely. _ Mal doesn’t let her lips curl into a smile, even though Jane now owes her a debt _and _ Mal knows her name (_her mother is the Fairy Godmother, Jane is a fairy. Shouldn’t they know better? _). She doesn't even have to lie- nothing she can do to Jane’s looks will be permanent, but anything the wand does will be.

* * *

When she sees her in their dorm, Mal barely makes eye contact with Evie before she kisses her, _ hard_, because there’s something is Evie’s eyes that Mal knows, and _ hates _ (_it’s the look of a girl who’s been using her looks to get what she wants, it’s the look Evie came home with every day on the Isle_). Evie’s doing two sets of homework and stitching a dress, and she’s doing it all without any magic. She’s a _saint_, Mal swears.

Furious steps echo outside their door, and they hardly manage to pull themselves apart before Jane storms in, already complaining about her mother. 

They tune her out, providing some commentary if necessary but mostly just letting the girl talk herself hoarse while they banter in the background (_“you’ve never had one”- no, she’s had two, and a girlfriend_). But their luck must be holding, or maybe Mal’s magic is working for her, because Li Lonnie steps through the door (_inviting herself in, how Auradon of her. On the Isle, you’d get hurt for that_).

Evie tries to save her, she _ really _ does, offering to do her hair so that she doesn't owe Mal anything, but Li Lonnie all but _ demands _ a spell, so Mal smirks and accepts the debt (_on the Isle, Mal didn’t take debt from unsuspecting kids because they didn’t have anything to give- here, the princes and princesses expect things to be given to them and hand out their full names, and Mal can’t wait for the day when she calls it and asks for something and they have to _ ** _give_**). 

Li Lonnie gives Mal an idea, though. Because people want things, and Mal can deliver those things, and it’s all too easy to tell her to spread the word that Mal will do people’s hair (_she takes princess’ debts and it’s like taking candy from a baby_).

But it’s making people think she’s _nice_ (and it turns out to… not feel bad, having people think she’s nice. It’s also brilliantly useful for her strategy, which is falling apart around her. She encourages Jay, Evie and Carlos to open up to a couple of people, let everyone think they’re softening).

She spends what little free time she has with the three of them, and they kiss softly in their dorms where no one can see. She drops her glamour in that free time, letting her hair fade back to blue and letting her wings spread out. But when they leave the dorm, she recolors her hair and hides her wings and eyes, and she and Evie walk with pinkies linked in corridors, and Jay and Carlos sling their arms around their girls’ shoulders. Mal thinks about _whatever the hell I want, _and imagines kissing them in broad daylight instead of behind closed doors (she doesn’t, though. Her father’s advice is all well and good, but it’s not _helpful_, not in Auradon where everyone is expected to curb their desires).

* * *

So, as it turns out, Mal needs to seduce Ben. They consider doing it the old-fashioned way (_Evie’s way_), but now they have access to magic and spells at their disposal, and nothing can be allowed to go wrong. So they use a love spell (_in the spellbook, it warns of a time the spell was used to make a man fall in love with a horse- Jay laughs and says that it’s the perfect choice- Mal hits him_).

Li Lonnie is their saving grace, barging in in the middle of the night and crying over their parents not _loving _them enough (_Mal thinks of Hades roaring at Maleficent in fury, and wonders_).

They spell Ben, and it all goes to hell. 

“_I would give my kingdom for just one kiss_,” he tells her, and Mal promises herself that she won’t kiss him (she’s not above collecting debt made by unknowing kids, but this- this is _wrong_, she tells herself. That’s not a debt, that’s a Promise that Ben’s making, and her mother’s words- ‘_take them at their word even when they don’t mean it _’ ring in her head. Mal tries to shake off the Promise, but it seals itself into her bones and her lungs).

She goes on a date with him, a date which her _girlfriend _helps her prepare for and her _boyfriends _coach her through. They need to do this, even though they’re _them _and Mal _hates _this plan. 

But then he nearly _ dies _ and that would wreck every single plan she’s made, so Mal dives in to try and save him (her Promise to her mother presses down on her lungs and she can’t _ breathe _ until she sees Ben, alive and well).

He tries to introduce her to his parents not even a week later, and she rolls her eyes at Evie, Jay, and Carlos but plays along, smiling prettily and pretending she understands having loving parents (_her mother stutters when she says I miss you because she’s lying and it hurts the fey to lie_). 

Audrey’s grandmother convinces her to go through with it. Because her daughter grew up with fairies, and she should _ know better _ than to antagonize one. Then Chad attacks Evie, and Mal wants to fucking _ kill _ him, but Ben and Carlos are holding her back (Jay gets a good punch in, though) (she undoes Jane’s hair in a fit of pettiness. She feels like her mother, like a _ fairy, _ when she does it. Afterwards, she feels worse than before. But still- _ whatever the hell she wants _).

* * *

Mal doesn’t know why she unspells Ben. Probably because she doesn’t want him to be panting after her while she’s ruling his kingdom with Evie, Jay and Carlos at her side (even her mother can’t live forever. Eventually it will be Mal’s turn- it’s what she was _ born _ for). She doesn’t love him, but he doesn’t deserve to be in love with her (_when he reveals that he’s been free of her love spell since the enchanted lake, she freezes. Her plan never accounted for him actually wanting her. Eventually, she smiles and him and turns her face just in time, so that his lips meet her cheek instead of her lips_).

Mal plans on going through with their plan, but only after Ben is king. It’s a lot easier to take a kingdom from a week-old king than from the man who established it. Plain Jane beats her to it, though, threatening to “do it herself”. Mal doesn’t have to think about it, her mother’s warnings- _ magic in the hands of the inexperienced and stupid can be more dangerous than magic in the hands of the experienced and cruel, Mal- _ ringing in her ears as she snatches the wand from Jane. Her lovers run down to meet her, and she wants to run because she’s so _close _to fulfilling her Promise, to having the suffocating weight of it off her chest.

But Ben asks her if she _wants _to do it. The answer is _no_, but she doesn’t have a choice.

She tells him as much, but can’t find the words to explain that it’s not her mother she’s scared of, it’s her own magic.

She doesn’t have to, though, because her mother appears in the center of the cathedral.

“Give me the wand, Mal. You _ promised_.”

She did. She Promised she’d steal the wand. And she has. But she never promised to give it to her mother.

What follows next is a blur. Years later, Mal won't be able to exactly place the series of events, but she knows that a couple of things happen: her mother turns into a dragon, Ben tells her he loves her, she gets the wand back, and her mother shrinks down to the size of a lizard (_the Fairy Godmother tells her that it’s the size of the love in her heart, but Mal thinks that it’s not that deep. She’d wanted to make her mother feel as small as she had her whole life, and this was the result_).

* * *

After the Coronation, Mal does something she doesn’t want to. She breaks up with Evie, Carlos, and Jay. She hates herself for doing it, hates hearing Evie cry herself to sleep every night for a week. But Mal can’t trust that it’s not her status as the king’s girlfriend keeping them safe and off the Isle. Mal has been using her status to keep herself and her people safe for _ years_, and this is no different. She will be Ben’s loving, dedicated girlfriend, his Lady of the Court, his anything and his everything to keep her people safe.

  
_ This is what she tells herself now, but after months of collecting debts from people who introduce themselves and thank her for saving them from her mother, after feeling the people on the Isle rioting against her magic and protection, after seeing that Evie, Jay, and Carlos are Auradonian enough that they won’t be left to rot from the moment she leaves, Mal lets her glamour slip off and she goes back to reclaim her kingdom and her people. Because it’s what she _ ** _wants_ ** _, and she tells herself that she’s spent long enough denying her father’s legacy. _


	3. all the king's horses, all the king's men couldn't put me together again

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sometimes, I think about that fact that I intended to finish _Korë_ within a week of D3 being released.
> 
> 12/01/2020 edit: I've found a handy script that allows me to write in Google Docs and paste it in without huge spaces being left after italics! The updates on this fic from 12/01/2020 are me fixing the italics problem :)
> 
> If you want the script yourself, [here's](https://thesunoneyelashes.tumblr.com/post/190157271334/i-write-my-fics-out-in-google-docs-and-then-paste) a tumblr post that explains it all!

A week after the coronation, Mal dyes her hair blonde (_it’s the same day she breaks up with Carlos, Evie, and Jay- she can’t bear to look like herself and not be with them, but when a pale-haired girl looks out of the mirror, Mal can remember that she’s in love with Ben_).

Two weeks after the coronation, she asks Carlos to teach her to read English (_her mother’s spellbook, the only material she ever felt the desire to read, is written in the old tongue of the fey- that it sounds like silly rhymes is an old party trick that fairies used to use to keep their spells secret_).

Three weeks after the coronation, when her roots start growing out and she has to bleach her hair again, and the words blur in front of her eyes as she struggles to make it through a page of the etiquette book Queen Mother Belle has leant her, so she puts it down and picks up her mother’s spellbook. It feels like fate when she finds a spell to change the color of hair, and she casts it without really thinking. She’s fey, and it’s _natural _for the fey to use magic to ease their burden.

She forgets all about it.

Four weeks after the coronation, she and Evie are laughing again, like they used to (_that’s a lie- Mal doesn’t kiss her when she giggles wildly anymore, and so it’s nothing like it used to be_). She and Jay sneak out to spar, to keep their skills sharp (_they’ve always been the protectors, and that’s not going to change because they’re in Auradon, or because they’re not dating_). And Carlos is still trying to teach her to read, but it’s slow going. So when Evie and Carlos approach her with a speed-reading spell, she thanks them profusely (_wants to press kisses to their noses and cheeks and foreheads and lips, but doesn’t_).

The spell doesn’t suddenly make her reading perfect, but now she’s fast enough that it only takes a couple of seconds to understand what she's reading, even when she has to read a word four times to get it right. She manages to give the Queen Mother her book back within the week, and Belle looks slightly put out (she’s had the book for two weeks) until Mal asks her for another, and then she _beams_.

Life goes on like this for a while. Mal’s trying her best to be the perfect girlfriend for Ben, and she thinks it’s working. She’s in love with him, which definitely makes it easier. They’re going on pristine dates, and she _loves_ him for it, for how much he loves her.

She meets her stepmother two months after Ben’s coronation. She and Ben (well, Ben, and her by extension as his current date to _everything_) had been invited to a ball hosted by the Olympians, and, naturally, the Queen of the Underworld was there.

Queen Persephone watches her with dark, unreadable eyes. She’s wearing a crown made out of daisies, and a black toga, and she’s talking to - who Mal _thinks _are- Hera and Amphitrite. Mal tries to shake it off. She’s sure Persephone knows, although she doesn’t know _how_ she would. No one else seems to, and Mal doesn’t really want them to. So she walks around on Ben’s arm, glitzy and ditzy, trying to prove that she isn’t a threat (_no one is really a threat to the gods, but they like the deference_).

The goddess of spring corners her in the bathroom (while she’s talking, Mal tries to forget her abrupt, cruel conversation with Jane, in a bathroom just like this one. It doesn’t work very well). 

“I’d like for you to drop the glamour,” she says pleasantly, but it's nothing but a thinly-veiled command. Mal follows the instruction, letting her magic fall away to reveal navy hair and black eyes, nearly-blue skin and feathery wings.

Queen Persephone nods as if it’s what she expected.

“He told me he named you Korë,” she says (Mal wonders how Hades managed to _tell_ her anything, and then she remembers that she’s talking to a goddess), a smile playing on her lips like it’s a _joke_, “He named you after me as if that would _appease _me. After he cheated on me. After he had a _kid_ without me. After he _married _your mother so that you wouldn’t be a bastard, because bastard fairies are killed. Is this true?”

Mal nods silently. She’s never been cowed like this before, not by her mother or her father or anyone, really, and she _hates _the feeling.

“But you don’t go by it,” it’s a statement of fact, and Mal feels her muscles tense, ready to defend herself should this goddess choose to try and take revenge here and now (_she knows it’s futile. That doesn’t stop her_). She shakes her head, confirming that she doesn’t use her given name.

“Why?” Persephone is unfailingly polite, but there’s a fury behind her eyes, and Mal understands how she managed to love Mal’s father. They’re _alike_.

“Speak, Korë. I won’t strike you for it.” Another command.

“My mother,” the words bubble out before Mal can think it through- before she can decide if she wants to protect her mother. Persephone knows her name, and Mal can feel its influence over her, pulling the truth from her, “was furious when I was born more like him than like her. Because she reproduced the human way, she said. So she made me what I’d be if I’d been born fully fey. _She made me fey_.”

“Did she think I would hate her less if her child with my husband didn’t look like him? I still _know_ that you’re his.” Mal watches the queen warily.

“With all due respect, your grace, you have a daughter that’s not his,” the words slip out before Mal can stop them, defending… something. Her mother, or her father, or her birth. She’s not sure. Fury cracks behind Persephone’s eyes and Mal is sure she will die. She thinks that if she dies here, tonight, she will regret having left Jay, Evie, and Carlos at Auradon Prep with only a “see you later”. She will regret having kicked Uma to the curb even when her magic screamed at her that Uma was one of her people. She will regret not having used every last drop of the magic in her veins.

But she doesn’t die. Persephone sighs, and brushes back the dark curls that have fallen from her crown.

“You know your history, Korë.” Mal’s knees nearly give in when she realizes that she’s not about to die at her stepmother’s hand for mentioning her daughter.

“I love Melinoë. She’s my daughter. And I remember how terrified I was that my husband would murder her, just because she wasn’t his,” there’s a silence between them, and Mal waits for her sentencing.

“Who knows?” The question startles her, it’s so out of place.

“You. My mother. Him.” She has to fight to keep Evie, Jay, and Carlos’s names from following, and she manages only by telling herself that she’s never explicitly _told _them.

“I want you to _Promise _me that you won’t tell anyone else.” Mal stares at her with wide eyes, somewhere between terrified and grateful.

“You said your mother _made you fey_. Is that true?”

“Yes.”

“The fey _must_ keep their Promises. So _Promise _me that no one will find out, and I’ll let you live. Peacefully. Free. I just don’t want anyone to know.”

“I _swear_ that no one will ever find out that I’m Hades’ daughter- from me,” her voice comes out hoarse, made that way by a mixture of relief and fear.

Persephone nods once and leaves. Mal thinks she hears her say _thank you_ but then convinces herself that she dreamed it.

She rushes out of the bathroom behind her, already having been gone for too long.

*

It only takes a couple more events of the same caliber for Mal to snap. She’s not surprised by it, not really. She was never cut out for this life, this _perfect_ and _wholesome_ and _good_ existence. And she’s not cut out for being _glitzy and ditzy_. She’s made to run with her people, made to collect debts and hold her family close and _fight for her life_.

Ben finds out that she’s been using spells, and it’s all downhill from there.

She runs from the responsibilities she hated, the life she didn’t want, and the scrutiny of Auradon. She runs from her boyfriend, who has asked her to be engaged-to-be-engaged-to-be-engaged without her realizing. She runs from her ex-lovers, and she regrets it, even as she bursts through the barrier and tastes _freedom_ on her tongue.

She runs into a turf war.

Uma and her gang are practically in the middle of a street fight with the Huns, hissing and spitting curses at each other. There are knives and pieces of glass {_and a hook_} being brandished, and the tyres on Mal’s <strike>stolen</strike> scooter squeal as she stops between them.

Maybe on any other day, she would have tried to be diplomatic. Maybe if she and Ben hadn’t just fought, she’d try for peace and not war. As it was, she was angry and tired, and it was the Isle, and Uma was _hers_. Her magic was fracturing and rebuilding itself beneath her skin, becoming reaccustomed to access to only her godly powers.

She watches her magic flare out around her, bringing the Huns to their knees, and then she feels the world go dark.

*

“Wake up, Queenie!” It’s Uma’s voice, harsh and angry and _home,_ that wakes her up again.

“What’s- where’s-” as she comes back to herself, she sits up. It’s too fast, and she feels her head spin with the exertion.

“Circe! Calm the fuck down, Queenie,” Uma’s hand pushes her back down to the bed, and Mal lets her, exhausted magically and emotionally.

“Where am I?”

“Back of the shop.”

Mal raises her eyebrow at Uma, but the sea witch says nothing. They both know that she shouldn’t be here. They both know the other won’t say anything.

“Your _lover_ came after you,” Uma informs her, and it’s the detachment in her voice that confirms for Mal, “Ben’s here?”

“Sharp, aren’t you, Queenie? Yeah. E, Carlos, and Jay brought him when they came to fetch _you_ back after your temper tantrum.”

“It wasn’t a temper tantrum. I’m _not _going back.” Mal insists, and she can _feel_ Uma’s disdain.

“You’re going back,” Uma tells her, “because _you’re_ the only one with the power to bring the rest of us over. It’s always been your job to look after the kids, Queenie. Make good on your _Promises_.”

Mal shakes her head, but her eye catches on the short blue curls that go flying. “My hair-”

“-did that when you broke through the barrier, yeah. No clue why. Ain’t you supposed to be Maleficent, Queenie?”

“Something like that,” Mal tells her, her promise to Queen Persephone thick on her vocal cords.

Uma purses her lips and says nothing. She’s not an idiot and has _definitely_ already figured it out. Mal changes the subject.

“Why are you calling me that?”

“Calling you what?” Uma feigns ignorance, but Mal just lifts an eyebrow at her.

“Ain’t like it’s not true,” Uma changes tactics, “Didn’t lover boy, like, propose already?”

“He didn’t- I mean, I didn’t know,” Mal tries to stutter her way through an explanation, but Uma just cuts her off again.

“Calm the fuck down, your majesty. Look, I’m _not actually_ calling you that because of Ben.”

“You’re… not?”

“No. Look, I know what this is gonna sound like, but- we took a vote.” Mal knows what that means. It’s a catch _she _put in place when she still ran the Isle. If Auradon ever wanted to negotiate, they _needed_ to come under one banner, and the Vote was made to choose the banner. But there’s no one who would call the Vote without her, unless-

“Evie.”

“She’s a fucking force of nature, you know. After you came rushing back in here an’ took all the Huns down with you, we were ‘bout to take the fight to the King instead. Then E came charging in saying that _his majesty_ would speak to a representative fo the Isle, but only _one_. We called all the gangs together, but no one wanted to send another group’s leader. The Huns wanted to end Lei, the Witches wanted to send Freddie. I eventually nominated you- you’re already off, you ain’t just gonna be fighting for you, E, Carlos, and Jay.”

“And you figured that I _might _at least fight for you considering our history.”

Uma shrugged, unrepentant, “I don’t know hat I did to offend you, Queenie, but I know you’re fae enough that your magic is attached to me. That it hurts you when I’m gone. I’m gonna use that to my advantage.”

Mal pushes herself up from the bed, shuddering as she feels the glamour she cast settle over her again. It feels like she’s underneath a blanket, just _slightly_ muffled.

“Let’s go, then,” she says, and Uma leads the way to the front of the shop, no questions asked. As they get closer, Mal hears a familiar voice- “Please, Evie, who am I meeting?” Ben is questioning her... _ex-_girlfriend.

She lets herself step into the light; she’s got purple hair and green eyes and _no wings_ again, but Ben still looks at her like she hung the moon.

“_Mal,_” he breathes, and she feels a smile crawl onto her lips. She may often be frustrated with Auradon, with the expectations it has of her, but she _loves_ Ben.

“_Queen_ Mal,” Evie emphasizes, pride in her voice and her eyes, “of the Isle of the Lost.”

“_You’re_ the representative?” It’s not scornful or disbelieving, but _relieved_.

“In the flesh,” Mal tells him and then waits for him to sit down. She’s been negotiating for years, and there’s a pattern that she follows, these are steps that she knows. She breathes in deeply, exhaling through her nose.

_Let the games begin_.

*

Cotillion is bright and beautiful and the decorations remind Mal _just _too much of the party on Olympus for her to be completely comfortable (_or maybe it’s the guests, she thinks as she watches Queen Persephone from the corner of her eye_). But Mal is finally in her element. She’s not _glitzy and ditzy_, but she’s bright and bold, her hair is purple and her dress (redesigned after she and Evie returned, now black and purple and a beautiful mix of Isle and Auradon) still glitters, but it’s _finally_ not what people care about.

Their eyes are drawn- as she knew they would be- to the crown she wears. It’s made of obsidian and inlaid with moonstone, and she’s reminding them all that she’s Queen of the Isle before she’s _anything_ of Auradon.

It’s a beautiful feeling.

_Persephone watches the girl who looks nothing like her father from where she stands, hardly paying attention to what Belle says. The girl has claimed a kingdom and a people and has done it all without her father’s name, and she wonders what Korë could accomplish with blue hair and black eyes and the title of Daughter of Hades._

_Carlos spins Mal around as they dance- they were always the dancers, of the four of them- and he thinks about how she’s fey and goddess and a queen and how no name or title is as important to him as the one she’s given up {his}._

_Jay stands at the railing with her in the quiet hours, when some of the guests have already gone home, and they sip the illegal champagne he snagged when a waiter wasn’t looking. He stares at her, openly, because she broke their hearts and she should **know **that._

_Evie flits around all evening, socializing and making connections, that stuff that Mal hates, the stuff that she was brought up to do. The entire evening, she keeps track of Mal, expecting her to crack, but she never does. Evie’s heart swells and shatters again when Mal kisses her cheek before they climb into bed (still the one bed, pushed together. Broken up or not, they still have nightmares)._

_Ben dances with his girlfriend until his feet are sore and his cheeks are flushed. He holds Mal close for as long as possible- Mal, a queen, one day **his **queen._

_Mal lets herself forget, for a night. Forget the problems that await her, forget that she’s responsible for a people now and lets herself revel in her success and in **love**._


	4. i'm ready for combat

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mal is seventeen and she has the world on her shoulders. 
> 
> Mal is seventeen and in sophomore year because her reading level wasn’t good enough to begin her junior year when she came to Auradon.
> 
> Mal is seventeen and she’s suddenly engaged- it’s almost too much, really.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had intended for all of D3 to be one chapter, but the writing was going so slowly and I wanted to give you something, so here's D3 part 1. I hope you enjoy it. Let me know if you do. :)
> 
> 12/01/2020 edit: I've found a handy script that allows me to write in Google Docs and paste it in without huge spaces being left after italics! The updates on this fic from 12/01/2020 are me fixing the italics problem :)
> 
> If you want the script yourself, [here's](https://thesunoneyelashes.tumblr.com/post/190157271334/i-write-my-fics-out-in-google-docs-and-then-paste) a tumblr post that explains it all!

Mal works herself to the _bone _arguing for more VKs to be brought over. She lets the blue in her hair shine through, purely by accident, because she simply doesn’t remember to hold the glamour up most of the time. It isn’t easy though- there are so many things that hadn’t mattered when it was just four kids. The school fees could be written off as charity work, as could the cost of feeding them. Ben had invited her, Carlos, Evie and Jay to spend their summers and other vacations at his palace, but that wasn’t feasible for the number of children she wanted to bring over. 

Auradon Prep classes had to be rearranged to allow more time for Goodness 101, and there needed to be standardized placement tests for the students old enough to come to high school. There had to be remedial classes for those who didn’t place, and they had to find a school willing to take the students that weren’t high school-age. There needed to be a way to pay for their schooling and places to house them when they weren’t at school. Some of them wanted to visit their parents on the Isle, and there had to be allowances made for that, too. Mal wouldn’t have eaten or slept if it weren’t for Ben and Carlos (Carlos, who felt more out of place than ever while Evie started her business and Jay lead the tourney and fencing teams to victory, had taken to spending time with the new Lady of the Court and ended up sleeping in her bed most nights when Evie was working into the small hours of the morning and he couldn’t be bothered to drag himself back to his room on the other side of campus).

Then again, it isn’t only Mal who has a new workload. Evie’s trying to build a steady income that she can donate to the new VKs, trying to buy places that she can fix up so that she can house them in the breaks. Ben’s attending to the responsibilities of a king, as well as trying to bring all of Auradon to an agreement about the rest of the children from the Isle coming over. Carlos is trying to implement new infrastructure on the Isle for the people who can’t (or won’t) come over, and Jay spends his time working the public relations aspect, trying to prove to the entire world that they are harmless, that they are _good_.

And, in spite of all their efforts, they seem to be moving _backwards_ in terms of progress. It takes everything Mal has (and some she doesn’t) to keep smiling politely when Ben’s council try to tear her plans to pieces in an effort to _keep the villains where they’re supposed to be_. 

It takes nearly a year to wrangle everyone into a position where they agree to bring kids over to Auradon- and even then, there are checks and balances and compromises everywhere. The plan is so fragile that the slightest change will knock it all back to where they began. And they’re only bringing _four kids_\- a “second trial run”, Mal trying to prove that children don’t deserve to be condemned and Auradon elite trying to prove that they do.

*

Mal is seventeen and she has the world on her shoulders. 

Mal is seventeen and in sophomore year because her reading level wasn’t good enough to begin her junior year when she came to Auradon.

Mal is seventeen and she’s suddenly _engaged_\- it’s almost too much, really.

*

The proposal is beautiful, if unexpected. And Evie, Carlos and Jay helped plan it- that’s probably what’s most surprising. Mal never planned on getting married, she never wanted children, because she was too busy to care for them and too caring to bring more kids into life on the Isle. But _Evie, Carlos, and Jay helped Ben plan this_, so she says yes. Because it means that they’ve accepted that there’s no chance of _them _again, that they’ve accepted that she’s in love with Ben, too, and that it’s safer for the Isle if she’s with Ben.

So she says yes, because she’s in love with Ben too, and she’d rather have some happiness than none at all. It’s selfish, she thinks, even as she walks around accepting congratulations, that she can’t find it in herself to let Ben love someone else, someone whose whole heart belongs to him. But now isn’t the time to think about that, not when they’re only hours away from the second trial run.

She smiles at Celia and hugs Dizzy close, and ruffles the twins’ hair as they climb into the limousine. Things are going _well_.

So, of course, her father blows it all out of the water. Mal thinks about being a little girl at a god’s knee and _whatever the hell we want_, and grits her teeth and lets the rage and magic always bubbling under her skin take her over, transforming her skin and cracking her bone to reform them. She’s only turned into a dragon twice before, at the prompting of Carlos, who was the first one to suggest that it might be possible (“_maleficent’s line have dragon’s blood, mal. you should be able to do it too” she’d cracked a smile and asked if he was running out of experiments to try. His only response had been a cheeky wink_),so she’s still unused to the way her muscles tear and stitch themselves back together. She thinks she catches a glimpse of shocked eyes under flaming hair as her pupils shift, but she can’t be sure because Hades wastes no time in firing the first shot, and she can feel the way he’s pulling the magic from her bones. 

The fight is short, and she only wins when she thinks of how she felt when she defeated her mother, pulling that feeling of _pride_ and _triumph_ forward, pushing it outward and breaking Hades’ spell.

But the damage is done.

Ben calls a council meeting. She’s there in her new capacity as the future queen of Auradon, and in her less-than-official capacity of Queen of the Isle (no matter how many kids defer to her, she still doesn’t have any _legal rights_ over the Isle). His parents are there, as well as several other prominent _heroes_. Sleeping Beauty and Prince Phillip, Jasmine and Aladdin, Snow White and Prince Florian, Hercules and Megara. Persephone, Zeus, and Poseidon. Audrey and her grandmother are present, too. Mal will never cease to be amazed at how that family manages to bend rules and laws to their benefit. How Beast _lets _them.

She’s not shocked by Audrey’s fury (_it’s not just about hades, she thinks. it’s about Ben, and it’s about a crown that Mal isn’t sure she wants- a crown Audrey can never have_). She’s not even shocked by Hercules’ suggestion to seal the barrier, _permanently_. He has a son, and she knows, better than most, that gods get revenge on other gods’ children. That doesn’t mean she doesn’t fight, though. She lets things like _dignity _and _diplomacy_ slip away, and she argues furiously for the future of _her people_.

Ben’s on her side, but he is an elected monarch, like her. His family holds the throne of Auradon only until the heroes decide that it’s no longer the best decision for Auradon. And she has no doubt that Queen Leah will push for her daughter to inherit the throne the moment she sees a weakness in the Villeneuve ranks.

“At _least_ let me bring the other kids over before sealing that barrier,” Mal pleads to stoic faces, “they _don’t deserve _to be punished for their parents’ mistakes.” She knows how sceptical the council is about the kids that are already here, but she can’t let a year’s worth of work go to waste, she _can’t let these kids suffer_. She opens her mouth to continue, ready to _beg _if she must (_never owe anyone anything, mal, because that’s no way for a fairy to live_) but Audrey beats her to it, spitting mad.

“_This_ is what you choose, Ben? Some _bitch _who cares more about the _criminals_ we’ve locked up- for good reason, by the way- than the people she’s set to rule?” she whips around to face the rest of the council, voice hard and cruel (_a lump at the back of her throat and the lingering thought- I’d be better than her, I’d protect **us**_), “And you cowards will let her _ruin us_ because she makes you _feel good about yourselves_.” 

Sleeping Beauty goes to comfort her daughter (_to stop her from embarrassing them further_) but Audrey rips herself away from her mother and storms from the room, one final promise (_“I’ll do it myself”_) shouted to the people behind her. 

Mal’s not too worried- Audrey has no magic, no way of following through on the veiled threat.

(_She should be_).

In the end, no matter how she begs, the council comes to the conclusion that she doesn’t like- no more trips to the Isle. They can’t bring the rest of the kids over, and the kids who are here can’t go back (Mal doesn’t _really _think they want to- except maybe Dizzy, whose grandmother has always loved her family more than anything and anyone else).

It’s implied that she should stick around for the small talk that normally comes with these things, but she can’t stand here and make nice with the people who would condemn an entire generation because they’re _scared_. So she makes her excuses- she has to help the new kids settle in, she’s late to meet with Carlos- and leaves as fast of possible. She can’t make eye contact with anyone when she leaves, even as she feels the gaze of gods prickling the back of her neck. She hasn’t said anything, and she won’t- _can’t_, even if she wanted to.

It’s as she leaves that she registers a magic she never thought she’d feel again. It’s acidic and cold and feels like it’s making the air around her _rot_. It’s the feel of her mother’s magic. She whips around, searching frantically for her mother, muscles tensed and ready to fight. Instead, she finds Audrey holding her mother’s staff. Her mother’s staff, imbibed with her mother’s magic and attitudes- dark and angry. The Audrey she sees before her isn’t much more than a puppet for her mother’s beliefs. 

But then again, it’s very much Audrey’s feelings behind her actions- as Mal’s hair twists into snakes and her features hardened into something familiar, Mal almost wants to laugh, because Audrey has _no idea _about her heritage, but the worst things she could think of was to curse Mal into being a _gorgon_. Into a creature of- the myths claimed, anyway- pure ugliness. 

That’s how Evie finds her, and she hisses at her to keep Jay and Carlos away because she’s not trying to turn her best friends into stone. It’s not hard to know what she has to do next, even though she _really, really_ doesn’t want to. She, Evie, Carlos and Jay make their way over to the Isle, because she needs the ember to stop her curse, and undo whatever Audrey plans on doing next.

*

Not seconds after they land on the Isle, they’re greeted by Uma, Harry and Gil. And they’re not like they were _before_, but they’re also not two seconds from knives being drawn, so Mal counts it as a win. She slips away as fast and quietly as she can, but Uma meets her eyes with a knowing glance, and Mal’s pretty certain that all three of them know exactly where she’s going. Uma doesn’t keep secrets from her crew (_it’s one of the reasons she’s a better leader than Mal_).

She’s never visited her dad before, but that doesn’t mean she doesn’t know how to get in. She still has half of her magic when she’s on the Isle, and half is more than enough to unlock the gate to the mine he lives in.

She doesn’t try to sneak in unnoticed. They may be on the Isle, but Hades is still a god, and she doubts she could actually get away with it. Instead, she walks in, head held high, and makes direct eye contact when she sees him.

He laughs.

“You know, I’ve got a whole bunch of bastards, but I don’t think any of them have half your guts, Korë.” 

Her name echoes through the chamber and she shivers.

“I’m here for-” 

“The ember, I know.” she doesn’t even bother to question how he knows these things anymore, not when she’s met Persephone, who somehow still loves her husband, who would do anything for him- likely including communicating with him and breaking the laws of Auradon in the process.

He walks up to her, and she’s struck by how tall he is. She’s stopped growing and is tall as she’s ever going to be, and he’s still a foot taller than her. They’re in tight quarters, and she has to bend over backwards to meet his eyes.

“But why _on earth _would I give you the artefact worth the power of a _god_?”

He yells the last words, and Mal thinks of the rumours, of Hades’ fury at his brothers condemning him to a mortal lifetime without his powers. But she needs this- for her, and for Ben, and even for Audrey, who doesn’t deserve to be a puppet in her parents’ games.

“_Whatever the hell I want, right?”_

He laughs, then, and it’s an ugly sound. He takes a step back, tossing the ember up into the sky and catching it again.

“You stuck with it, Korë, I’ll give you that. Queen of the Isle, Queen of Auradon- am I invited to the wedding, by the way?” He asks, but he must know that the answer is a resounding _no_, so he continues with the same breath, “and now, the powers of _Hades_. I guess you are your father’s daughter, no matter how much you may look like your mother.” He raises his eyebrows at her, and she gets the hint, dropping the glamour to let blue hair and black eyes and _wings _shine through.

“How’d my wife take it when she saw you like that?” He asks, and if she didn’t know better, she’d think he sounded _worried_. She raises an eyebrow at him.

“Don’t you know?” she asks, and something dark fills his eyes for a second. 

“_Korë_,” he says, and it’s a clear warning.

She shrugs.

“She took it fine, I guess. She didn’t kill or curse me, so that’s better than I was expecting,” she can’t pin the look on her father’s face, but she might have called it _relief_. 

“I didn’t come here to make small talk,” she reminds him, and he smirks, tossing the ember into the air again.

“I’ll give you the ember,” he agrees, and her eyes widen because she expected a _far _harder fight.

“On one condition.” 

Her hopes sink. She may not _know_ her father, but she knows the stories, and she doubts that this condition will be something she’ll be able to fulfil (_she’ll try anyway, because she’s going to be their queen, and they deserve a queen who will fight for them until her dying breath_).

“I can’t just _give _you the ember,” he tells her, “think of my reputation. I’d be _ruined_.” She rolls her eyes he may be a god, but he’s trapped on the Isle just like all the other assholes who failed to conquer the world. It’s sometimes hard to remember that he’ll still be here when she’s dust and the Isle is long gone.

“But you can earn it,” he continues. There’s a pause while he thinks before he smirks and declares, “A trial, I think. It’s poetic justice. My brother’s son had to prove he was worthy of being a god, and you shall have to prove the same.”

“Most of the creatures he killed are- as things generally are after you kill them- already dead,” she reminds her father, “And I’m not asking to be a _god_. I’m asking to save my people.”

He hums noncommittally, “Yes, but I’m so _tired_ of Zeus bragging that his kids are always the _strongest_ and the _best_. I’d like my own bragging rights for a change.” There’s a spark in his eyes, and Mal knows that he’s made up his mind. She won’t be escaping this. So she squares her shoulders.

“Fine. But can we do this _quickly_? Audrey could be _hurting people_.”

He just laughs at her, gently scolding, “Patience is a virtue, Korë.” It’s the fourth time he’s used her true name in as many minutes, and it’s been more than a year since she’d last heard it (_falling from the lips of his beautiful, furious wife_) and she flinches from it. Her movement must catch his eye, because he grins wide, and bares his teeth to the point that it’s almost grotesque.

“There’s your trial,” he tells her. “You want the powers of a god? Fine. But you can’t follow the rules of the fae too. _Break a Promise,_ _Korë, and I’ll give you the ember_.”

_Break a promise. _She’s never even considered-

The fae don't keep promises because they're **forced** to, they keep their promises because it's stupid not to. When you break a Promise, the person on the other end is well within their rights to demand your pound of flesh- sometimes literally. 

Mal has only ever made three promises- one to her mother, which she's already kept, one to Queen Persephone, who Mal has no doubt would gleefully cut out her heart given the chance, and lastly, one to Ben- if she allowed him to kiss her, she would own his kingdom.

She looks up at her father through messy blue curls and makes an expression that's somewhere between a smirk and a snarl. 

"Still want to be invited to the wedding?" 

*

She approaches her gang slowly, well aware of Hades' presence behind her. 

"E, I need you and Jay to take Uma and Harry and bring Ben here," she commands, leaving no room in her voice for argument.

"Mal, what-" her darling second-in-command tries to ask, but Mal interrupts. 

"There's no time, but this is the only way to get the ember." She holds Evie's gaze, and the blue-haired girl nods, motioning to the others to follow her. Uma lingers for a second, scrutinizing Mal as though she holds the answers to the universe, but then turns to follow Evie without protest. 

Mal takes the time they're gone to coach Carlos and her father through the traditional steps of a fae wedding. 

Within the hour, though, their crew turns up with Ben (and Jane, for some reason) in tow. 

She hugs Ben tightly, and it's all she can do to keep from kissing him. Instead, she whispers against his chest, "I don't want to do this," she tells him, "but we need to hurry up the wedding." 

Ben, her darling Ben, doesn't even question it. 

"What must I do?" 

"Just stand over there, by Hades. I'll be there in a second." 

"Uma, I'm trusting you to keep the peace," she tells the girl, and again, she's surprised when Uma just **goes** with it. 

She, Carlos, Evie, and Jay walk a couple of meters away. 

"Mal, you don't have to do this," Evie tells her, and she loves her for it, even though she **does. **

Her eyes must say something that she can't, because Evie just nods solemnly and kisses Mal's hand, clasped in her own. 

Mal walks down the aisle Carlos's arm, in leathers and purple and looking nothing like a bride. She stops in front of Ben, and the ceremony begins. 

"Who comes here to be wed on this day?" her father asks. 

"Mal Bertha le Fay, a woman grown, and Queen of the Isle," she says, and she hopes her voice is shaking less than she is. 

"Who gives her?" 

"Carlos de Vil, of the Isle of the Lost." It's archaic, but these are the words that magic will recognize. 

"Who claims her?" 

"King Ben of Auradon, of the line Villeneuve."

"And do you accept this woman? " her father asks. 

"I do," Ben’s voice is strong and sure, and his eyes hold hers captive as he says it.

“Do you promise to love and honour her?”

“I do.”

“And do you, Queen Mal, accept this man?” Her father asks, and she breaks her gaze to look at him. She’s not sure, but from his expression, she’d say he’s _happy_\- or at least, he’s smug about this outcome.

“Yes,” there’s no feeling in the word, because she _won’t _give him the satisfaction.

“Do you promise to honour and protect him?”

She pauses for a second, wondering if she’s really going to go through with this. It’s been _hours_ since she agreed to get engaged, and she wasn’t even sure about that.

But then she looks at Ben, nervous and hopeful, and she knows there’s only one answer she can give.

“I do.”

“Then you may exchange rings.”

Ben slides his ring onto her finger. Even years later, it's still-as her mother called it- a perfect fit. 

“I am hers, and she is mine. From this day to the end of days,” Ben recites the words that she hastily hisses at him. 

She feels, more than hears, herself echo the sentiment as she gives him her family ring- it’s made of black metal, in the shape of briars. The irony of ironies.

As soon as she’s done, she feels the Claddagh burn its way onto the back of her left hand, the heart facing towards her wrist. The symbol of a married woman. 

“Then you are married in the eyes of gods and men, and equals in everything. You may now kiss the bride,” he tells Ben, and Mal smiles and kisses him first.

As soon as their lips meet, she has broken her promise. She can’t take his kingdom from him, because it’s already hers. Their marriage vows, for all intents and purposes, had nullified the vows he had made to her that first day. 

She hears Jay wolf whistle from somewhere behind her, and she laughs, tears in her eyes. She holds out her hand for the ember, and her father watches her for a second, his face revealing nothing. 

Then he gives her the stone, bright blue and warm against her skin.

“Don’t let it get wet,” he warns her.

She nods solemnly, and turns, her other hand still in Ben’s.

“Let’s go,” she says to her crew, but finds Uma, Harry and Gil in her way as she turns to leave.

“Uh uh, Queenie,” Uma says, and her voice is cold, “We ran your fucking errands for you. We’ve been waiting for a _year_, and nothing’s happened yet. You’re not leaving this island until you _swear_ you’ll get us off this godforsaken rock. All of us. You’re _our _queen, but you care more about them.”

“You shouldn’t talk about her like that,” Ben tries to insist, “She’s your Queen twice over now- of the Isle and of Auradon.” Uma just laughs at him.

“So, _your majesty, _what’s it gonna be?” Nine sets of eyes bore into her, and she wants to shrink back from the responsibility these people have placed on her, but she’s a _queen_ and that’s not what queens do.

She considers, for a moment, what Uma’s asking. Going against the council, risking other, true villains escaping.

_Mal_ her mother’s voice says as she breathes in and closes her eyes. _Fae_ she reminds herself. _You are fae. Your word is truth. Your Promises are always fulfilled._

_Korë_ her father’s name for her echoes through her mind as she exhales. _You are half-goddess_. _Don’t forget_. _Never let anyone hold something over you_.

She opens her eyes. 

“Every child currently on the Isle of the Lost will be given a chance to come to Auradon if it pleases them,” she swears. Uma’s eyes narrow and she completes her vow, “I Promise.”

_She feels the weight of the Promise settle on her. Underneath her tongue, in her bones and her teeth. It thrums in her blood. She will keep this Promise, or she will die._

_She has come too far to die._


	5. all of my heroes die all alone

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Seasons greetings to all!! I hope you enjoy this, the final chapter of Korë. Consider it my Christmas present to you!
> 
> 12/01/2020 edit: I've found a handy script that allows me to write in Google Docs and paste it in without huge spaces being left after italics! The updates on this fic from 12/01/2020 are me fixing the italics problem :)
> 
> If you want the script yourself, [here's](https://thesunoneyelashes.tumblr.com/post/190157271334/i-write-my-fics-out-in-google-docs-and-then-paste) a tumblr post that explains it all!

In the end, all nine of them go back to the mainland together. Mal silently commends Uma on her quick thinking- if she'd broken her promise and the sea witch was on the island, Uma wouldn't actually have a way to claim revenge. This way, Mal has to tread very carefully.

It isn’t easy, though. It would've been hard enough trying to bring nine people back to Auradon on four bikes, and all of the bikes had been wrecked in the rush to bring Ben (and Jane) to the Isle. Eventually, Mal is forced to transform in order to carry everyone back without lowering the barrier entirely. And it _hurt_. The dragon transformation was entirely fae magic, and while she'd learnt how to channel godly powers to use fae magic long ago, those were generally small spells (glamours, and the like).

The ember helps her, but Mal would be happy to never have to attempt it again as long as she lived. It would be impossible to forget the feeling of hellfire in her veins as her bones snap and reform and her skin stretches and twists.

When she detranforms upon landing at Evie's cottage, she only barely has two legs again before she crumbles to her knees, vomiting. Ben {_her husband_} is behind her, whispering soothingly, and Evie, Carlos and Jay stroke the new stretch marks across her back and thighs and stomach and arms {_Uma, Gil, Harry and Jane stand a small distance away, eyes wide and terrified at the effects of magic being done when there was no magic to draw from (they have no way of knowing that Mal's reaction is just par for the course, no clue that transformation magics are just **that awful**)_}.

When Mal feels well enough to be moved, Ben scoops her up and carries her into the cottage (_it’s one of the first ones Evie bought, and its sole purpose is to house the VKs_). Ben puts her down on the couch, between Dizzy and the twins. Celia is on the floor in front of Dizzy. They mumble in their sleep, and Mal’s heart breaks for them.

“Shh! It's okay. Don't worry, Dizzy, we can fix this. And once we do, they're gonna let all the kids come from the Isle. So, happy dreams,” Evie murmurs, and Mal has to look away. She can’t think about the council, about her promise. She can’t think about how she’s going to make this work.

“So, what’s the plan?” Evie asks, and Mal’s brow furrows in confusion, “Plan?” 

“Yeah, what are we gonna do next?” Uma adds, and Mal’s eyes widen in fear.

“There’s no _us_ in this. I’m going to find Audrey, break the curse, and restore Auradon, and you guys are gonna stay where it’s _safe_, okay?”

“Mal-” Ben begins, but she cuts in.

“No. _This is not a conversation_, okay. I love you, _all of you_,” she briefly catches Uma’s eye, and she’s not sure how to say _yes, even you, _ so she just continues, “none of you have magic. _None of you are safe when Audrey’s around_. And I won’t let her hurt you.”

“Mal, you don’t even know how to find Audrey,” Jay tries to insist.

“You sure about that?” she asks, smirking.

The spell she uses is a simple one- she doesn’t even need her spellbook. And the ember is more than suitable to act as a focus, so when she hisses the words- “_Wæfemess Aethelthryth_” (_An enemy that hides from sight/who plots and schemes away from light/Her wicked plans I must now quell/By finding her position with a spell_)- the spell is so strong that not only does she _know_ where Audrey is, she can project a phantom image of her location onto a nearby mirror. She turns from the picture of the palace to everyone else.

“This is why I should go alone. Because _I_’m the only one who can do things like _that_. I’m the only one who can wield _this_,” she says, holding up the ember.

“Mal, we _just_ made a promise,” Ben pleads with her, “In good times and in bad, right?” They’re not the vows from the fae wedding, but they’re wedding vows nonetheless, and Mal’s heart feels like it’s tearing itself to pieces when she says, “ I know. _I know_. But it’s not safe for you out there.”

She locks eyes with Uma.

“I’ll keep my promise, but I _need_ to know you’re all safe. I can’t do this if I have to look after you.”

“No, Queenie,” Uma insists, “We do this together.” She looks around at her crew, _her family_, and she understands that she’s wasting time, but she doesn’t want to do what she must. She begs like she never thought she would, one last time.

“Don’t make me do this.”

“Don’t make us make you,” Carlos argues, and she has to turn away because she can’t watch their faces as she spells them.

“_Awefecung_.”

Tears blur her vision as she walks out of Evie’s cottage to the heavy sounds of bodies hitting the floor.

*

Most of the magic is done before Mal even sees Audrey. The spell she intends to use is so very complicated and older than humans themselves. It’s a cruel spell, one her father had tried to use on her- god, was it _yesterday?_ A spell that drains all the magic (and then the life) from your body {_she hopes she’s powerful enough to end the spell before she begins draining Audrey’s life. She lives with that fact that she’ll use the spell even if she doesn’t know that she can_}. She calls on the gods as she recites fae chants mingled with Latin rituals and she hopes it’s enough. She weaves flowers into her hair and hopes that her namesake will protect her even though she’s her father’s daughter.

She makes her way to the throne room, clutching onto the ember like it’s a lifeline. The sleep spell will only last for so long, even with the power of the ember behind it- she’s only _half_ Hades, after all.

“Audrey,” she calls, even as she feels the searing pain of the dragon transformation creep up her legs {_she’s holding it back by the skin of her teeth, letting that dangerous, painful magic simmer and bubble at her heels in case she needs it_}, “please, let me help you. This _isn’t_ what you wanted, this is my _mother’s_ magic controlling you.” It’s a futile attempt, really. Her mother would _never_ accept mercy, and Audrey _is_ her mother at the moment.

“I know,” Audrey tells her, smirking as she stands up, “but isn’t this _so much better_?”

Everything after that is a blur of pain. Mal concentrates on the spell, activating it even as Audrey cast her first blow. Mal stands her ground.

Their battle is less a battle and more a race against the clock. Mal stands still, hoping her hastily-constructed shield holds up as she directs all of her power and concentration into the ember and the spell she’s casting. It’s painful. At the same time, Audrey pushes forward through the use of brute force, and as Mal’s spell strengthens, she slows.

Mal isn’t sure if there will be enough time for her to finish the spell in its entirety before Audrey breaks through her shield.

There isn’t.

Audrey fires two spells in a row, and the first shatters her shield. The seconds cuts deep into her soul, shocking her with the pain it creates. It feels as though Audrey has left a giant laceration across her chest, even as she looks down and sees no blood.

Audrey lifts the staff to cast the killing blow and Mal finishes her spell barely a second before.

Audrey falls to the ground, and Mal tries to break the spell, but it’s still growing and she doesn’t know _how_.

Her concentration shatters as Jay, Evie, Ben and Carlos come rushing through the great doors, and she drops the ember. There are burn marks on her palms (_and her heart_), but Audrey is stabilizing under Carlos’s care and _she’s done it_.

She gladly greets the darkness that overwhelms her.

*

At first, when Mal wakes up, all there is, is _joy_. The joy that she’s alive, that Audrey’s not dead, that she’s married, that she won’t have to fight, ever again (_she’s wrong, on that last count_).

But within Jayof her awakening, she needs to attend council meetings (_she insists that Evie, Ben and Carlos come along, insisting that she’ll name them Personal Advisors to the Queen of Auradon if she must. Adam, who doesn’t like to talk about that fact that she and Ben had a rushed, fae wedding on the Isle, agrees_), where they’re debating if Audrey should be sent to the Isle {_Audrey, who’s still asleep, who likely won’t ever wake up. Mal thinks about telling them that Hades could revive her, and doesn’t. She’s never been good, after all. Not like they want her to be. And Audrey’s been a thorn in her side for the longest time_}. Even when Mal speaks for her, they’re still debating. And that’s when she realizes that they’re not debating whether Audrey is _evil_ enough to be sent to the Isle, they’re debating if it’s worth opening the barrier again.

_As in, they still won’t allow her to bring the rest of the Isle’s children over._

“Ladies and gentlemen,” she says, and her voice cuts through the din of the argument. The heroes fall silent.

“I’ve made a promise to bring all of the children over from the Isle,” she tells them, “I can't turn my back on the Isle. We can't live in fear… because it doesn't actually protect you from anything. You never know where the bad is gonna come from. And you never know where the heroes are gonna come from either.”

“There are no heroes on the Isle!” Aurora snarls. The heroes echo her viciously.

“Without Hades, you would all still be cursed,” Mal argues, “And that's why I can't be Queen of just Auradon. I have to be Queen of the Isle, too. And it's time that we take the barrier down. _Forever_.”

“Mal, we can’t do that,” Ben whispers softly, “I _know _that he’s your father, but-” Evie, Carlos and Jay’s eyes flash over to her. Maybe she’s never _told_ them the truth of her parentage, but they’ve known for _years_. And they’re all aware that if she’s not talking about it, it’s for a reason.

_“How do you know that?” _Mal says, over the shouts of the heroes.

“It’s on your birth certificate,” Ben frowns, “I saw it when I was organizing to bring you here.”

“That’s not the point,” he continues, shaking his head, and Mal can’t find her voice to tell him that _it is the point now, because it’s supposed to be a **secret**_.

“Mal, we can’t release the people on the Isle of the Lost. They’re criminals.”

“_Then_ _I’m a criminal_,” Mal hisses, “_and you should throw me back in there with them._”

The other VKs agree passionately.

“Mal, we wouldn’t do that,” Ben insists, and fury bubbles under her skin.

“What, because I’m _one of your own_?” She asks, and he doesn’t have an answer for her.

She nods because really, she knew it all along.

“Don’t make me do this,” Mal begs him for the second time in a matter of _days_. “Please, Ben. The Isle of the Lost is _wrong_, and you know it.”

“Adam, control your son and his _wife_,” Prince Florian demands of the Beast.

Jay turns to face him, furious, a growl in the back of his throat. Prince Florian steps back.

“The Isle system is majorly flawed,” Evie declares, “And a major human rights violation.”

“People should be locked up if they commit crimes, “ Ariel argues.

“Yes,” Mal takes over, “but they should also be given a chance to reintegrate into society. And children shouldn’t be punished for the crimes of their parents.” She turns to face Ben, and they’re so close that their foreheads are touching.

“You know I’m right,” she whispers.

Ben searches her face for -something- before turning to face the council, all _irate _at the very thought of being responsible for a human rights violation_._

“I stand with the Queen,” he tells them. “Mal’s right. And I’ll do _anything_ to make this right.”

“We won’t vote on it,” Queen Leah insists, “We won’t willingly bring about the destruction of the United States of Auradon, as you seem so keen to do.”

Mal nods. She didn’t expect any less from them. She looks across Jay, Evie, Carlos, and Ben. She sees the decision that they make, almost in perfect unison, and her heart wants to _burst_ because she loves them so much and she couldn’t do this without _all of them _at her side. _Whatever the hell you want_, her father had told her, and she _knows_ that this was, somehow, what he was talking about.

“Fine,” she says, “we’ll do it ourselves.”

She walks out of the councilroom, hand-in-hand with her husband, with Evie, Carlos and Jay around them.

*

A preview:

> "My congratulations on your recent nuptials," the Queen of the Underworld says to her. It's mid-winter, and Persephone's skin is so pale it's translucent. Mal can see her skull below her cheeks, "although, I was disappointed that I couldn't be there myself. But then again, it was rather rushed, wasn't it, Korë? I wonder why that was." Her smile says she already knows.
> 
> "I don't want to play this game with you," Mal says, pressing Ben closer into her side, "what do you want?"
> 
> "I just wanted to give my well-wishes," she obfuscates, "and commend you on breaking Aphrodite's heart so thoroughly."
> 
> "What's that supposed to mean?" Ben questions defensively. The hair at the back of Mal's neck stands on end, and Mal knows what's coming before Persephone gets a word out, but she's powerless to stop it.
> 
> "Only that she thought- we all did, really- that _her majesty_ would end up with those three," she points a bony finger at Carlos, Evie, and Jay, who are just out of hearing range, seemingly bent over a map, but really poised to strike, should Mal give the signal.
> 
> "I- I don't-" Mal stutters, and the Queen of the Dead smiles serenely as she walks off, calling over her shoulder, "consider _that _my revenge", before fading out of sight.

**Author's Note:**

> Come hang out on [tumblr](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/thesunoneyelashes)!

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Moonshot](https://archiveofourown.org/works/22161604) by [lawsofchaos](https://archiveofourown.org/users/lawsofchaos/pseuds/lawsofchaos)
  * [Metanoia (I am the goddess who exacts punishment for what has and has not been done)](https://archiveofourown.org/works/22917193) by [Fraus_Shafiq](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fraus_Shafiq/pseuds/Fraus_Shafiq)
  * [Here we stand (at the genesis)](https://archiveofourown.org/works/23208202) by [Fraus_Shafiq](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fraus_Shafiq/pseuds/Fraus_Shafiq)


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